DIANE ACKERMAN

ANIMAL SENSE

“A stapler with its tiny fangs

Cannot outwit orangutangs.

Rocks are very good at sitting,

but never walk or take up knitting.

Living things all feel and sense

their way through every happenstance.“

In every steely, cold rational science maven’s heart runs a
red-hot stream of romance. Finding the stream and allowing yourself
to get in touch with it is what’s difficult. To the rescue
comes Diane Ackerman.

Ackerman’s lovely little book of poetry will appear at first
glance to be a good gift for a child, and indeed a child would be
handy to have around so you could justify reading the book aloud.
It is more than that, though. It is a book for the curious
child in each of us, and lots and lots of the clever wordplay is as
much to an adult’s liking as the words in Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the
Hat. There is also a lot of learning to be had here (I suspect she
couldn’t help herself)... Don’t make the mistake of reading it
once. Read it at least three times. Then you’ll understand why a
scientist like Carl Sagan was crazy about this
woman. — Stephen L. Petranek, Discover
Magazine